How accurate are pedometers?

sethra

mine showed i walked 6 1/2 miles yesterday, i did go to the mall and to sams and then my every day walking around at work but sure didnt think i did that much

funfitfoodie

I'm pretty sure mines way off! It says I burn 99 calories on a 20minute run and ran about 2.8km when I'm pretty sure my route is closer to 4.5km.

Then again it did only cost 0.99p on eBay!

stitcherbeth

When you bought the pedometer, did you set it for your stride? Also, some pedometers are sensitive to the extra movements of the body or jiggling of fat. One I used to have recorded about 2 to 3 times the steps I normally took. Also, make sure you are wearing it at the right location on your beltline. Mine recommending in line with your knee and slightly toward the hip.

You can double check it by taking just a few steps around and seeing how it records. Check it several times in a few minutes and then that might give you and idea.

suemar74

I wear an Omron Aerobic pedometer and I find it to be fairly accurate. If anything, it may miss a few steps and register lower than what I actually walked.

casey12105

I'm not sure if certain brands are better than others, but I know the cheap one I used to have if you just shake it it went up a lot lol so I never figured it to be accurate.

butterfly_lvr

would say it all depends on what you have; the one I have I tested this morning by doing a one mile workout and it came up way short and said I only burned 30 calories :-( that was disappointing to say the least. the one I really wanted actually has a way to separate aerobic steps from regular steps but is not in my budget right now until hubby's hours pick back up at work.

whiskey9890

some are good some are rubbish, i could log 6 steps just by pulling up my trousers after going to the bathroom on my old one but my current one is rather accurate. one way you can test it is to go to the running track and see how many steps it takes you to walk 100m (this will also help you calculate your stride for when you programme your ped) and then do the same 100m using the ped and see if it logs the same number of steps

whiskey9890

also if the ped has a calories function, i wouldn't take the results as gospel as this will vary depending on intensity. i would imagine these are programmed based on an average person walking an average speed (which is generally considered to be 3mph) you'd need an hrm do that accurately. or for a rough guide you could work out the route you went, the duration and work out your average mph, a lot of running forums have route planners that can help with working out the distance, then use the mfp guide for working out the calories. i know a lot of people say that the mfp figures are way off base too but if you are consistant with the methods you are using this in theory won't have too much of an impact, as they are always going to be out by the same ammount every time, like always using the same set of scales to way yourself (if that makes sense)

oldtyke

When I used to drive with mine, it used to clock up every time I changed gear!

donicagalek

You'd have to give the model of your pedometer to get an answer for this.

I can tell you that the one I bought for a couple bucks at Walmart six years ago isn't. :-D It just has a trigger in it that counts the number of steps taken based on whether it's jiggled hard enough. So, we have to assume each step jiggles it hard enough and that each jiggle is from a step. Even then when all is said and done they assume that steps by a 5'2" woman are equivalent to a 6'4" man. Or that a running step is as far as one from a leisurely stroll.

JohnnyNull

Overall, they're known to be off by as much as 50%. Don't rely on gadgets.